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  • Dokett Building
  • Dokett Building
  • Dokett Building

Education, South East

  • Project Dokett Building
  • Sector Education
  • Location East of England
  • Tile Product Clay Handmade Tile
  • RTA Member Sandtoft
  • Dokett Building
  • Dokett Building
  • Dokett Building

Challenge

Originally constructed in 1911, the Dokett Building has served the world-renowned Cambridge University for over 100 years, becoming a beacon of local history. However, in 2014, with weathering beginning to take its toll on the age-old structure, the iconic building became the subject of a major restoration.

The Dokett Building provides accommodation for the college’s students, featuring 34 study bedrooms, 12 kitchens and a Fellows’ room.

The roofing contractors were tasked with stripping and re-covering the entire 100-year-old roof. One of the main reasons the roof needed replacing was that it hadn’t been updated in decades. The accommodation needed to be drastically modernised, so new dormers were created to allow for ventilation and new bathrooms.

Solution

With the historical importance of the site at the heart of the University of Cambridge, the unique heritage aesthetic of Keymer roof tiles made the brand a natural choice for the roof replacement, and we were delighted to be chosen by the building’s conservation officers.

Keymer’s handmade Traditional Antique and Elizabethan tiles were selected to ensure a sympathetic renovation that was in keeping with the existing building design principles of Queens’ College. As well as providing Traditional Keymer tiles, the Keymer team manufactured 450 bespoke hips tile for all the new and existing dormer roofs.

Result

The specified roofing solution needed to provide an aesthetic akin to an adjacent building, which had been renovated as part of an earlier restoration in 2005. Through utilising an even mix of Traditional Antique and Elizabethan handmade clay roof tiles, the new roof achieved an incredibly close match to the surrounding buildings. Not only this, but with the superior heat retention capabilities of natural alluvial clay, the thermal efficiency of the building was also improved.

Due to the fantastic finished result on the Dokett Building project, Keymer tiles were selected for The Old Courtyard restoration at Queens’ College three years later.